Big East commissioner: UConn won't play in conference tournament

CROMWELL, Conn. - What little hope UConn still had in playing in this year’s Big East tournament was extinguished on Monday by league commissioner Mike Aresco.

“That’s over for this year. They won’t be in this year’s tournament,” he said after speaking at the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. “But we’ll welcome them back the following year, and we’ll be delighted to have them back.”

UConn is barred from any postseason tournament this season due to recent low Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores. However, school officials have reportedly been lobbying the league’s presidents to at least allow the team to play in the annual conference tournament at Madison Square Garden. The school feels, among other things, that the APR rules punish current players for past players’ academic shortcomings, and Aresco apparently agrees with that.

“Susan (Herbst, UConn’s president), wasn’t there when all this happened,” he said. “They’ve corrected everything. They’ve got a terrific APR now, they’re doing much better. This is just one of those things. It happened, and it’s something they’re going to have to get through.”

Among other things, Aresco said that UConn has been “very committed” to the Big East, despite rumors that the school would jump at the chance to join the ACC, Big 10 or another conference. He said that the Big East will be adding a 12th school at some point (it will have 10 next year), and that he feels the